{"podcast":{"title":"Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)","slug":"complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962","podcast_index_feed_id":6944962,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11","website_url":"https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/daBTNOHQVDwsyvBT5Y1dmtX8J3KGSjYDycHstNU2MOw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zMzM5/OTY4ZTE5ODVjZjk0/MzhhZWEzMjRmZjdm/ZWNhYS5wbmc.jpg","author":"Patrick McKenzie","episode_count":97,"summary":"We live in a world where our civilization and daily lives depend upon institutions, infrastructure, and technological substrates that are _complicated_ but not _unknowable_. Join Patrick McKenzie (patio11) as he discusses how decisions, technology, culture, and incentives shape our finance, technology, government, and more, with the people who built (and build) those Complex Systems.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-16T16:19:13.615743+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962"},"episode":{"title":"What LLMs can and can't do for writers, with Clara Collier of Asterisk Magazine","slug":"what-llms-can-and-can-t-do-for-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine","published_at":"2026-07-16T07:05:58+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962/what-llms-can-and-can-t-do-for-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962","url":"https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/llms-and-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine/","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/media.transistor.fm/6351217d/3dd4f96b.mp3","summary":"Patrick McKenzie is joined by returning guest Clara Collier, editor-in-chief of Asterisk Magazine, to discuss how working writers and reporters actually use LLMs. Patrick walks through the machinery behind his recent SPLC reporting, including \"parallel construction\" with LLMs: when sources can't go on the record, models can surface public confirmation of the same facts in unguarded podcast interviews, press releases, and prepared remarks. They also cover why the best smoking gun sat unnoticed on the coalition's own Twitter account, the David O. Selznick theory of the corporate memo, and where hardball politics in a democracy ends and crimes begin. – Full transcript available here: https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/llms-and-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine/ – Presenting Sponsors: Mercury , MongoDB & Chainguard Complex Systems is presented by Mercury—radically better banking for founders. Mercury's new feature Command brings an LLM directly into your banking interface, so checking balances, finding invoices, or sending a wire is as easy as asking. Apply online in minutes at https://mercury.com/ . What's the point of building faster with AI if your database can't keep up? MongoDB's native data model mirrors the language LLMs already speak. Ship at the speed of AI while staying ACID compliant at Fortune 500 scale. Start building at https://mongodb.com/ai . If attackers are using AI to weaponize code faster than any team can review it, your scanners won't save you. Chainguard builds libraries and container images from source, verified all the way down, with near-zero CVEs and zero malware. Build safely at https://www.chainguard.dev/ . – Links: Complex Systems on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@patio11podcast Asterisk Magazine: https://asteriskmag.co…","meta_description":"Patrick McKenzie is joined by returning guest Clara Collier, editor-in-chief of Asterisk Magazine, to discuss how working writers and reporters actually u…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5735,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962/episodes/what-llms-can-and-can-t-do-for-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/complex-systems-with-patrick-mckenzie-patio11-6944962/what-llms-can-and-can-t-do-for-writers-with-clara-collier-of-asterisk-magazine.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}